The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for extracting the castings produced in an automatic mould foundry plant, wherein the plant includes an extraction station receiving modules with solidified castings positioned in mould cavities at the mould-parting surface between mould parts.
In foundry plants of the mould-string type, it is known to perform the extraction using a robot for gripping the downstream mould part containing a casting at the downstream end thereof and move this mould part and casting to co-operate with an engagement member penetrating into the mould adjacent the casting and pulling the casting away from the mould part. A method and apparatus of this kind is known from WO 98/51433.
Based on this prior art it is the object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for extracting the castings produced in a mould foundry plant of the kind referred to above, with which it is possible to provide a well-defined and positive engagement with the casting in a fixed position and orientation, in order to be able to deliver the extracted casting in a well-defined position and orientation for further processing thereof, whereby the subsequent handling can be performed automatically with high precision, without further positioning adjustments and/or detection of position of the extracted casting, and this is achieved by a method and an apparatus as described below in the following detailed part. With this method and apparatus, it is achieved that the casting is gripped in a well-defined position and orientation, said position and orientation being secured by the closely juxtaposed mould parts, which are not moved relative to one another until after a secure gripping of the casting has been obtained.
Preferred embodiments of the method and apparatus, and the effects thereof (beyond what will be obvious to a skilled person) are explained in the following detailed part of the present description.